The Coming Judgment

“The Coming Judgment”

Jeremiah 11:1-17

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

“Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. Tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Cursed is the one who does not obey the terms of this covenant— the terms I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.’ I said, ‘Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God. Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’—the land you possess today.”

I answered, “Amen, LORD.”

The LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of this covenant and follow them. From the time I brought your ancestors up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, “Obey me.” But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.’”

Then the LORD said to me, “There is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem. They have returned to the sins of their ancestors, who refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them. Both Israel and Judah have broken the covenant I made with their ancestors.

Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them. The towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they will not help them at all when disaster strikes. You, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns; and the altars you have set up to burn incense to that shameful god Baal are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’

“Do not pray for this people or offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress. “What is my beloved doing in my temple as she, with many others, works out her evil schemes? Can consecrated meat avert your punishment? When you engage in your wickedness, then you rejoice.”

The LORD called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form. But with the roar of a mighty storm he will set it on fire, and its branches will be broken. The LORD Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the people of both Israel and Judah have done evil and aroused my anger by burning incense to Baal.”

I have been working on this sermon longer than any sermon I have preached for years. This Scripture has been on my heart for some time. I have been a little slow in developing it - for one thing – it’s a little negative. It also has taken quite a bit of research. But now Palm Sunday and Easter is over. It’s time, I think.

In my daily devotional time I have been reading Jeremiah in my Old Testament portion of them for over a month. So I have been soaking in this book and in his words. Jeremiah has been called the “Weeping Prophet” because his heart is broken for his people. It is his job and calling to call his wicked people back to their God. They have more than wandered away. They have willfully and purposefully rejected God.

You need to understand that these were God’s special people. Of all the people of the earth God has chosen them to bless and to be the means of bring salvation to the earth. He brought them out of slavery with miracle after miracle. He led them to a land that was “flowing with milk and honey”. He made a covenant with them. “The Abrahamic covenant found in Genesis 12-17 is known as the "Covenant Between the Parts" in Hebrew, and is the basis for the covenant of circumcision in Judaism. The covenant was for Abraham and his seed, or offspring, both of natural birth and adoption.

In Genesis 12–17 God grants Abram and descendants land but does not place any stipulations on the promise. It is unconditional. In other words, no matter what – this land will always be Abraham’s descendants land.

By contrast, Gen. 17 contains the covenant of circumcision which is conditional. The condition is obedience.